How loud is your PowerBook's hard drive?

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shatteringglassshatteringglass
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
It seems that my new 12" PowerBook's hard drive is a bit nosier than it should be. By no means is it distracting, but it feels like it should be quieter. How loud is yours compared to other notebook Macs you have owned? Is there a way of telling that something might be wrong?

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  • Reply 1 of 9
    nijiniji Posts: 288member
    in my 12' there is the:

    TOSHIBA MK4021GAS

    there is virtually no noise.

    you dont mention what sort of noise you are hearing from yrs.

    if it is a clicking sound every few seconds, it would mean that something is seeking and not seating itself. this sound happened to my 12' right after i installed panther, but it went away after i did the update to 10.3.1 and repaired permissions, etc.
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  • Reply 2 of 9
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Mine is silent, I wish my ear drum popping CD-RW was that quiet.
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  • Reply 3 of 9
    machemmachem Posts: 319member
    Mine is silent, also.



    15" 1.25GHz 4200 RPM.
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  • Reply 4 of 9
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i think in large part it depends on where you're using your laptop as well.



    in my office, i don't hear a sound.



    however, at 1 in the morning when it's dead quiet, i can hear it churning away.
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  • Reply 5 of 9
    ac7860ac7860 Posts: 40member
    When it comes to my PB, ast3r3x said it best, silent HD (Hitachi 60GB, 7200RPM) and loud CD-RW.
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  • Reply 6 of 9
    bnoyhtuawbbnoyhtuawb Posts: 456member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by shatteringglass

    It seems that my new 12" PowerBook's hard drive is a bit nosier than it should be. By no means is it distracting, but it feels like it should be quieter. How loud is yours compared to other notebook Macs you have owned? Is there a way of telling that something might be wrong?



    I think my Al PBG5 15 does not have a harddrive at all the 5400 rpm drive is just so silent ...
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  • Reply 7 of 9
    shatteringglassshatteringglass Posts: 176member
    I hear whines, churns, and clicks.



    I think you're right alcimedes. During the daytime with my window open in my house, and with some slight background noise, I can hear it slightly. But at 1 AM, it's very noticeable, tho not distracting. The whines and clicks are the most noticeable.



    The hard drive OEM is a Toshiba.



    Also, please make a note of which kind of environment you are working in. (noisy office, etc.)
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  • Reply 8 of 9
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    My Rev A Ti 500's BTO 30 GB drive is noisy as hell. I can hear it constantly spinning.



    If I wasn't gonna replace this machine within the next year, I'd consider swapping out the drive for a larger drive with liquid bearings.
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  • Reply 9 of 9
    patchoulipatchouli Posts: 402member
    Hard drive noise will depend on which drive Apple happened to have used in the particular PowerBook, not which PowerBook model (since they use different brands in all models at random).



    In my experience, Toshiba's are the loudest, Hitachi/IBM come in second with occasional loudness and steady access noise, but Fujitsu HDs are practically silent all of the time. Luckily, Apple uses Fujitsu HDs in many PowerBooks.



    I'd take HD silence over added performance any day. With the huge areal densities and 8MB caches in today's 80GB notebook drives, they are very good performers despite the now 'meager' 4200rpm speed.



    Fujitsu has announced a 5400rpm 80GB HD, so I wonder if they've managed to keep this drive practically inaudible as well.
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